A glacier in Denali is experiencing a surge event.
Glaciers move due to the ice on the base becoming wet from heat.
Muldrow Glacier has not moved this fast since the 1950s.
Muldrow Glacier, a mountain in Denali — south central Alaska — is moving quickly in what is called a glacial surge event.
The surging glacier is moving at a rate between 50 and 100 times faster than normal, according to Denali National Park,Gizmodoreported.
“They are these things that have fascinated glaciologists for decades,” Jonny Kingslake, an assistant professor of environmental science at Columbia University, said.
Glaciers normally move at a glacial rate of mere millimeters per day, but sometimes some of them experience rare surges, likely tied to the seasons.
The glacier surge was first discovered by Chris Palm…
A new analysis of data from the 1978 Pioneer Venus mission, by researchers at Cal Poly Pomona, finds evidence not only for phosphine, but also possible chemical disequilibrium in Venus’ atmosphere, an additional possible sign of biological activity.Sharing is caring!
In late 2020, scientists studying the atmosphere of Venus announced the surprising – and controversial – discovery of phosphine, a chemical that, on Earth, is produced primarily by living organisms. Jane Greaves at Cardiff University in Wales and her colleagues asked at the time: could the phosphine be a sign of microorganisms inhabiting Venus’ atmosphere? Maybe, other scientists said, but phosphine itself wouldn’t be proof of life, and subsequent studies questioned whether the phosphine was ever there at all. Then – in March, 2021 – a study from Rakesh Mogul of Cal Poly Pomona supported the original finding of phosphine and went further. It suggested other “biologically relevant chemicals” in Venus’ atmosphere that appear to be in a state of disequilibrium: another hallmark of life.
The new study focused on the re-analysis of data from the old Pioneer Venus mission, which sent four probes into Venus’ atmosphere in 1978, collecting data as they plunged toward the surface. This was the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe part of the mission, with three small probes and one larger one. The scientists analyzed data from the largest probe. The tantalizing peer-reviewed results were published in Geophysical Research Letters on March 10, 2021.
We re-examined archived data obtained by the Pioneer Venus Large Probe Neutral Mass Spectrometer. Our results reveal the presence of several minor chemical species in Venus’ clouds including phosphine, hydrogen sulfide, nitrous acid (nitrite), nitric acid (nitrate), hydrogen cyanide, and possibly ammonia.
The presence of these chemicals suggest that Venus’ clouds are not at equilibrium; thereby, illuminating the potential for [possibly life-related] chemistries yet to be discovered.
Mogul and his team found that the original analysis back in 1978 focused only on the most common chemicals that were expected to be found in Venus’ atmosphere. He told space journalist Nancy Atkinson in a March 25 article for The Planetary Society:
The focus on the minor and trace [chemical] species was minimal. That’s what we realized after looking at the archival data and the associated publications. We immediately found signals in data that other publications hadn’t discussed or mentioned. That was all we needed for motivation to keep going.
According to Mogul and his team, these chemicals could be evidence for redox disequilibria, processes suggestive of life. For example, on Earth, microbes take advantage of the redox disequilibrium found in natural environments like water to derive energy. Could something similar be happening in the atmosphere of Venus? Are parts of the atmosphere, at least, a potential habitable zone for microorganisms?
False-color view of Venus (to bring out details) from Japan’s Akatsuki orbiter. Image via JAXA/ ISAS/ Akatsuki Project Team/ Royal Astronomical Society/ Attribution: CC BY 4.0.
The temperate zone in Venus’ atmosphere where temperatures and pressures are more habitable for life. Image via Seager et al. (2020)/ Astronomy.
The data for this study come from the Large Probe Neutral Mass Spectrometer (LNMS), which was on the largest of the four probes that descended to Venus’ surface in 1978. The composition of the atmosphere was measured several times during descent. LNMS targeted gas molecules in the atmosphere that have a neutral charge. Phosphine would be one of those gases.
The Pioneer Venus data are important, especially since they were obtained in-situ, in the atmosphere itself, instead of remotely by Earth-based telescopes, as the other data last year had been.
The disequilibrium in Earth’s atmosphere is due to life, but whether the same is true for Venus is still unknown. This latest study supports that it could be, but more data are still needed, most likely from a return mission, to know for sure. Astronomers also say that this kind of disequilibrium could be used to search for evidence of life on exoplanets. Wouldn’t it be fascinating if that first evidence actually came from someplace much closer to home? From the linked paper in Science Advances (2018):
Chemical disequilibrium in planetary atmospheres has been proposed as a generalized method for detecting life on exoplanets through remote spectroscopy. Among solar system planets with substantial atmospheres, the modern Earth has the largest thermodynamic chemical disequilibrium due to the presence of life.
The new study was led by Rakesh Mogul at CalPolyPomona. Image via LinkedIn.
Today, the surface of Venus is horrendously uninhabitable, with temperatures of 840 degrees F (450 degrees C) – hot enough to melt lead – and crushing atmospheric pressure. But the middle layers of the atmosphere are temperate and Earth-like in temperature and pressure, although the clouds do contain abundant sulphuric acid. But there has been growing evidence that the planet used to be much more Earth-like earlier in its history, with rain, lakes and oceans. Less than a billion years ago however, something happened to cause a catastrophic greenhouse effect, where Venus transformed into the hellish world we see today.
Could there have been microscopic life of some kind, which then sought refuge in the clouds, away from the burning surface? Perhaps.
It will be very interesting to see what other follow-up studies say about this newest chapter in the phosphine on Venus enigma, and the possible disequilibrium. As Mogul said:
There are always mysteries to be solved and I think what we just showed that sometimes old data can reveal new stories. This is all a process, and moving forward is what science is all about.
Scientists think that Venus was once much more Earth-like, with rain, lakes and even oceans. Did it ever have surface life? Image via NASA.
Bottom line: A new analysis of data from the 1978 Pioneer Venus mission finds evidence not only for phosphine, but also possible chemical disequilibrium in Venus’ atmosphere, an additional possible sign of biological activity.
APRIL 13, 2021 / 7:07 AM / CBS NEWShttps://www.cbsnews.com/embed/video/?v=27c2db22c86bece439a19414820ef4a4#xVb7b9s2EP5XBP04hBYpUS8Dw9Cse3dpkLQbsKgwKJKy2VAPiJSdoMj%2FvqMkK066oUC3bgiMSNQ9v7v7jh98Nti20%2BzeX9t%2BkGf%2BXgnZ%2BusPvrKyNv765oNv7zvpr%2F19K%2FwzXwl4FEleMikFytM0RJTTEGWpoCitKOOJJDKiTrbu7q5k9ZPTiK5eC3IRV7e%2Fy73%2B4eq3Wl%2FXV%2BflNrnMwz%2FIr%2B9B2uhhC5LvWccaxLqub%2FfSoF5qyYxqtujAjJUHZmWPVGNb1DGuKsVRyyVrQN8qq12cPzsDHuTUGM%2B23mRAeo%2FqnlP3jmpC3oISPFSD1k9tHIPwliC874fbwexUzT6ydzmF472e7XLWtI3iTL%2F592xaVUtjWd35a5KQLAppEmcYY8hi6JlVbQMfSP74%2BoqVUoNvTNZxDgb09N5AqlDKmm2lcbU2rkQ7azuzLoIi4KVp5MGQFTwo8GcVX%2FG2LoLdUBaBKoK%2BCEIckiLAtAhIBBp5meeYUxSnMkI0ohnKk5ygGGcJk5RilqVFYHdDXTZM6SJIKL6LElwELMsyIUVJeRzlLOM8yqCFIp7RLBdRRKdoUDUYSAd9XnOgxTGCoGhK0ex%2B9b7bAiq7v0w%2F%2BoLpkzDDd2kI%2BfM0JCTMcZnyPCoFxRWLeVQJkgtGEiq%2FfP4PZ37Xy72Sh7e9fgKE6bTicsVqvV2pFmrVQfL7EH6OJIrgU0NdBLPhIvAXZjmxD1mIFdDK%2BGU1wz5BPb%2BAKwB7p81zxEmW0TSKMY0SEkM7ubTCzShYOyj6VR0N2dFr%2BJ%2B7rdq%2BZhbcQq0AxHEYi%2BAO1Z3cvr16BRLDM7APh8PTWGaQP6%2FkI%2BLK%2FFR3rQvLX1dMG6B3IHvFR3p3PZ%2BxKOVJXCIOnYdoyUtUYpGgqsSS8TDNSZo9MrOLzk2Lkj3r%2BQ5Wxs109g46iPWysW%2Bc9QtWO7r79vz64lT6%2FH76cDN9eQdtJztlWgFnBHxAVo6%2BfOIcym0N5qYPA6QujVlSYFq%2F4BxOznXLbxcyM2%2BN7K%2BH0vBelVIs4qZrG9P2R7mdvHvxUlZs0K46%2BAz%2B%2FPH0%2FPE0ys9ofDYSpu0ZvwW0HWRQFcPbXo7P0FIRxm7AgerpnO9cO8f%2BCRx95VzCS2M2xm62DhVX3umEdRvm8r0ogheLDHfu95yQ5cTYZ7YfALh6uLvs20729v4XCXXwQ5pKweIkIqkgMc1pTsIoYlHiP0BxamnZSPOQjZXbe%2FcMZ7tWTA0qGzGanetcSWaHHrY7d1tEuk0%2BXwHAP6DpKvO4buEReAEelo6928Hw8FZryae2X9SK4LntIvhGmY1ut1spNqr5Gjs6OgVdme8aVmpX0OmCwnrgYy1fDBB%2F7%2B4WN36Y4DBlQLoJyxgiRIYoFyREGJOskhnDuMSuSZ%2BoHrtRD%2Fze4z2r7InIeGdJaZXhNI9QCgyNaJKUiCURQ2mS0yzjZYnTyl9ULofyJWTkigGUgTBFJPJwto6jdZw8ih1vA%2BNYe4bdG09Z76C09sRQd17PhGoZALd3VxZ3E6j6toYAFRCJFF61XBaaAcyxfrzp2Om%2BYHfSm2ngzDMwkw5FD5jDwrXBnARxLGdjoSqb%2BdS17VK1CVkRUYKzvEJZycIZWYoxwmFOSEZJlsKUvDvVO8IqlBkJEQLzxlydmIBtwI%2FehTS3QEcjT72Uewec74hkexRws7Jx11DHCPD%2FR%2BWI7MY%2FtL0Wzpw7vJ7cgvh0PJ3OFoA33PSPWMrSn%2BlvLG6C07iiOENpnIm%2F65lZYWa0owOtagVTSRc4r9uh53JiSG%2Be8LJnjbjUzLpNMHqcyX3j4ts8Ju9eZwezhHMrmVZD7QYAqlcpffLZKYCIbBxkbpe5kVlum893%2BEdrZdpv01ZZmgmdtN3pYpl7DI099uxSMbfVuGlqKRS7bCE0qMUMPiiKuaD%2FT1DO84zsF%2FIwEt4nk%2Funi%2Fzh4U8%3D
Tokyo — Japan said Tuesday that it would start discharging treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean within two years. Officials in Tokyo said the water would be filtered and diluted to safe levels first, but many residents remain firmly opposed to the plan.
Protesters gathered outside Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s residence in downtown Tokyo to denounce the government’s decision.
More than a million tons of contaminated water is currently being stored at the Fukushima power plant in a massive tank farm big enough to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The wastewater comes from water pumped in to cool the plant’s damaged reactors and also rain and groundwater that seeps into the facility, which was seriously damaged by the 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that ravaged Japan’s northeast coast.
The unit three reactor building and storage tanks for contaminated water at the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, February 3, 2020.KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/GETTY
“We can’t postpone a decision on the plan to deal with the… processed water, to prevent delays in the decommission work of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said in October 2020, without commenting directly on the plan or its timing.
On Tuesday, Suga said that after years of study, his scientific advisors had concluded that ocean discharge was the most feasible way to cope with the surplus of contaminated water.
“The International Atomic Energy Agency also supports this plan as scientifically reasonable,” he said.
But the decision to dump Fukushima wastewater into the ocean has drawn fire from neighboring Asian countries and local fishermen along Japan’s coast.
China called the decision “extremely irresponsible,” and South Korea summoned the Japanese ambassador in Seoul over the matter.https://www.cbsnews.com/embed/video/?v=27c2db22c86bece439a19414820ef4a4#xVb7T%2BQ2EP5XovxYYRLnnZWqCo5r71SOIh6qKnJCjj3Z9eE8FDvsohP%2Fe8dJdlkoFa1UVBDCdublmW8%2Bz3eXDabtFHtwFxVTGg7ceymgdRffXWmg1u7i5rtrHjpwF%2B59K9wDVwpciiCOyzBOSJSHQCLuC5KzihMoIQ7Ksoogpyhbd5sLqD5bjePwqr3m9Rk96uD35Wr1R9l9UqdJ%2BMtv%2FPTq8qNBaa2GJUr2bdkaTXhbAzEtMSsgPWg%2BAGGVgZ5Uw92gV7JmRDAp%2BUqSZuAKWE%2BE1ExbkcQntWwGA5oEPs2Jn5IgQw9GGmVvcjG6cEzroHVnsu6M1p3ZlrO1hVoC7lAHF9Wg1AsTNspX7fy8jdI5maJ8zTJnTdtIztTVf2nVyBq0YXXnLmicRFgmGvj4gzcZemZk27iLLEyetqesBIXeabiIEzSgpn2D18V612wJ2gJC2zqujOn0ovAKj5e6gbUOD3Eh0Z%2BR%2FBADL7zVUBaeLLy%2B8Gz2C89PcZUVHs1EGSRVQkQWpyQKfZ9kUQIEEhbksZ%2FmmS8Kz6yGumyYVIWXRP4mTHz0FQkIIU4yliZ%2BypMwiZKM5iykaS5EhBIjakbsEprleZokZNY%2B%2FNYt8VKrV6MP3jF6GmT%2BJg0wuCyjAnzBY6BUBKUPPImjjFOIK5%2BXjL8Z%2FuOB2%2FVwL2F93atn99CdkhwOWa2Wh7ItPNZh7PcB%2FlljhfdW3xXebLjw3F3zT5UfN8F2V7V9zQz6Zp11OQKn8Dak7mB5fXGKysOL0Nbr9eGc5im1c0jv1eDjDaT%2BXHft2AlbRkOCk3xkNAuBtIqCOE1LEsYBEEohJBmHjPhRKtKSxmUewBMZ7Tmy96jZHfTaoklCz3q%2BQt68QSFnFsIvTxtnT%2BMrFpD10JgrG8wZq2E07nzZ6e0sHj9Mn2%2Befz%2FbM4ZwgE7qVqBYFGKwwLTt6pja9bJGP%2B4iwPXQYXW13qWCKXXEOZ4cq5Yjq5l%2BAJuzaw395VBq3ssSxE5cd22j234LgRVsjk6gYoOyOPAP8NcdT4%2BfTsP8IIoP4tzyUM%2F4nWyWNvVYbM3bHsY1Ygq7J%2FYz5CAeodKH48uzGSWWFRM8%2BsG6xE2jb7W5Xdp02XROJ6y7ZXhd96zwjnYy3Lq%2F5zTYnWjzwvbjo%2BXczkJX%2Fzs22Gq93VCHTJS3m9rGXg%2Bb877toDcPvwIixQ2iFASLE6QtQeMoj3IahCELLemi56NtdS5AyB7GCz1vJ8QQq9uhMZ0a5qZaM8NX2FTin%2FT6T5Vhyx8%2FnH0hyF7UZ2WZcPcRwVmDYSPHY9EMLB%2FsGs9WrZg6HhoxZm9soaemeK1RbOWngcHOFQrTuffyPoM0chUe7Xhhs0LO7UFhAHiZJ4OFF9PCi0KkYWzxx%2BfAkvpjw0plQTuBmfVYPAVHAwbf29Hjxg0SP0hZlJGEZcy2fEByQQPMAc0qyJjvl77t0Geq2yZUA39weI%2FUtCcyjjRpVGVI%2ByFJKRqLkqQkLAkZSZM8yjJeln5auTuV86E8wZtZFPgBRbohNHT8bBHPj%2B4stp0EvrGONY5mD9qRxllLpRwx1J3TMyFbxo28BwdLjzNB1bc1BiiRlkE4O%2FLcTQZYhcY4spnniY5xWUl%2B4GgEk82i0%2FUtZtnovSCm%2BvG2MUglt%2FOpBWmrFOISO2HKrAgj6md5RbKSBXNmI4SWH%2BSUZhHNUmSCr%2Ft627RuqRwDc8a7WjGBLxHfeheg75C6R04%2FgXubONey6HIrYDv21k6pFoX4%2F5O0pH%2FjrtteCWvOHl5OblF8Op5OZwvIjZbhxlxC6c5PxecJ42lcRX5G0jgTf4eZWWGm862DAcl0dmDnOztQyVpiM0e7BF%2B2Q8%2FHFJfTM4FCZc8acY7oty%2FtGMPMSrc24tundNjt7HKWsIEAU3KobUtgPSup9j5bBRSBxiYRvwr3cW%2F2fDlR%2FOXZtqvCG4u09zbvAZGsbSlHNO6e6hF1ZAYbaTmg8gy08Z2ukeLYeYuhYXXmbEFtH5%2Bpxv9PVNbznNp38jBy3ZuXe%2F9J6fHxTw%3D%3D
“They told us that they wouldn’t release the water into the sea without the support of fishermen,” Kanji Tachiya, who leads a local cooperative of fisheries in Fukushima, told national broadcaster NHK ahead of the announcement on Tuesday. “We can’t back this move to break that promise and release the water into the sea unilaterally.”
Critics, including Greenpeace nuclear specialist Shaun Burnie, argue that Japan should continue storing the wastewater near the stricken Fukushima plant.
“Deliberately discharging and contaminating the Pacific Ocean after decades of contamination already from the nuclear industry and nuclear weapons testing is just not acceptable,” he said.
The actual release of water from the Fukushima plant will take decades to complete. Critics have called on Japan’s government to at least ensure that independent monitoring is in place to verify the level of radiation in the discharged water is safe for the environment.
A source from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development confirmed that at least 329,556 chickens on 62 farms in the affected states were killed.
The Chief Veterinary Officer of the Federation,Dr. Adeniran Alabi, said Nigeria had not reported any outbreaks for almost two years except on January 29 in Nassarawa Local Government Area of the state. Kano.
APRIL 12, 2021 / 6:48 AM / CBS NEWShttps://www.cbsnews.com/embed/video/?v=27c2db22c86bece439a19414820ef4a4#vVZtb9s2EP4rgj4OoSVKol4MDEOyFGixLgua9FM0GBR5stlQoiBKjr0i%2F31HWXZeVqBA1xaBEYm61%2BfunuNnn4%2BD6TTf%2B8uhH%2BHM3yoJxl9%2B9tUAjfWXd5%2F9Yd%2BBv%2FS3RvpnvpL4SEGKgtU1ARCUJCwDUnCWkrCGKoqKGtJUoGzT7T5A%2Fc5pMBHG2T%2FnSU7freI0f7t%2F08dZy837qwjeR1d7lLZ6XKPkYHZKEDk2ncUQyEMP%2FF61a7LhWyOIaUnHhapRxAjgLQFh7N5OsZ75gxq0C%2FXy8tY7WvAmC9ab9D3Teg3vVQueVjWgioR7VMCHetT6qH%2FrYnhlAWN4snF9iMH7y8XgvYhB8Na0SnB9%2Bx2MDaoBO%2FCm85c0pXnIWBSmYRhi3GPPB2VafxmzZ6%2FveQUanYZsyUI0oA%2FvLSaHtWv4GqwrrnU12QxDZ5dlUAaisi082GiBDwr9DUoshGnKYDNWZaDKoC%2BDKIxoGYRJGdCwDJKCpTGjIUmBxSQBlpBc0oyEsgrzIi%2ByFNIyGDZjU7Vc6TJIk3AXp6hZ84rzMKrDKs3iKEkTzKhKZRixKBdM1odoSD1aTId8czeQk2%2BS5kUSZWSOYPGpWyMwmy8iQH8gAjTKw10WoapgWZVIRkFUdcQhpXEUAuciLvAnaPZTIHg887setgoePvb6BRa200rAgjd6vVCmDHiH%2BW8j%2FDluKIOvzXIZzIbLwD8RyjP7XW%2FkAtlk%2BrKYkT%2BgPb%2BgK8R7o%2B1r0GmexznNWFxkMcOmcmmx1STYcEy6XzTxmB%2B9Rj%2FdbW36hg%2FolncOxGkky2BHmg7WHz%2B8R4nxFdgPDw8vY5lB%2FuaqT6Ar%2B67pjIvMX9ZcWyR2pHklJmJ3nZ%2FVFJm6SkjMIiCUQkxyATkJk0xmFWVVEcETJ2OA2EzKksb0rYvC8mHsJXe0vVHQ815scIPcOUHPCXqzoOPDV0feSfdv7EDeQzvcutCueOPY8veLG%2B%2FWif95snDycLE%2FCN19SermZBY7GzpljURRijkAt44nfeoSgnWDHg8fxg4b1doTRFzrcyHw5EIbcX9iTfvRQn8zVlb0qgJ5Eredaa3pj3Ib2J1fQs1H7RogPMM%2Ffzq9eDqNi7OEnbHCUXvPhauoKwkW3grTw%2FSMXRuHIQvzFMFLDpBcze3h8Ezx6BfnEl9au7LDau2Acx10OOHdirt8r8rg%2FCQjnPutoPR0YodXth8RuGbcXfemg37Y%2FwFYUj9KMpC422OaScqSIiloFMc8Tv1HrF8DA5%2F2CWYzwHrvnvFsY%2BRhBqCVk9m5j2pwRQJJhFtX4O4T8%2BUC%2FSOarjJPWxwfkXrw4TQUuw3OpzBagzhM1kkN98or22Xwm7IrbdZrkCvV%2Fho6xnsOurJvWl5pV9DD1Yf3yPoazkeMv3e3ljs%2FimTMw5wRARledCIQBAcjwXGjSSHDWIo8cn38QvXYpJ%2Bgrr3K9a4ErdUzuelKVCVohGWc1CzJSUJzSSoaoW0Zi1pSnM7CFWtWuR6rS0zLVQSpCecUh9aj0ZKyJX0mdrx0bMyDxz27MVO6HrRb1ZvWtT7XnlR2Yi3vgVtvbIXZAgLnGQx32ICHdxdVu7ninjAo6PHaCWehtwfe22fOjrVrBzS8mk%2BnS9UWN8j8WYK9R%2FKZWOkSti4D303%2B%2BijgOnflrptuPvH%2FW%2BVo6863QkErwOHmjm8ORUeF44fD%2BWwFJ9nNo9riFQsqfya8CekM5wnvGpRUES0I9jCQquYFqTNa5HVUVIyxo8JMQ08utGoUTkpyyvrGjL2AAyt689RVPW%2FlteaDWwCTz5nTVy7C1RME7nV2MUs4x4CIj41rSlxStdLPPjsFFMEC4plbYa6NT3fM16v7P9vksNaeKkpedAI5dsK8RaQcCNIl0YjzYZE0IBW%2FNhgFHs1Ia%2BByruAP9%2B%2BczHj9f2MTi3w15O%2BwgB8f%2FwU%3D
Just 10 miles off the coast of Los Angeles lurks an environmental disaster over 70 years in the making, which few have ever heard about. That is, until now, thanks to the research of a University of California marine scientist named David Valentine.
Working with little more than rumors and a hunch, curiosity guided him 3,000 feet below the ocean’s surface. A few hours of research time and an autonomous robotic submersible unearthed what had been hidden since the 1940s: countless barrels of toxic waste, laced with DDT, littering the ocean floor in between Long Beach and Catalina Island.
After 70-plus years of inaction, Valentine’s research has finally helped initiate a huge research effort to reveal the extent of the contamination.
But this offshore dump site is only a part of the story of environmental damage from years of DDT discharge along the coast of Southern California — a story which likely won’t be closed for decades to come because of its ongoing impact, including a recently discovered alarming and unprecedented rate of cancer in the state’s sea lion population, with 1 in every 4 adult sea lions plagued with the disease.
The history of DDT dumping
The chemical DDT was invented in 1939 and used during World War II as a pesticide helping to protect troops from insect-borne diseases like Malaria. After the war, production of the chemical ramped up and it became routinely used in the spraying of crops, and even over crowded beaches, to eliminate pests like mosquitos.
CBS NEWS
But in the 1960s, DDT was discovered to be toxic. Over time, eating food laced with DDT builds up inside the tissues of animals and even humans, resulting in harmful side effects. The EPA now calls it a “probable human carcinogen.” In 1972, when the U.S. government started taking environmental pollution seriously with legislation like the Clean Air Act, DDT was banned in the United States.
The largest DDT manufacturer in the U.S., Montrose Chemical Corporation, was located along the Southern California coast in the city of Torrance. From 1947 through 1982, Montrose manufactured and distributed DDT worldwide. In doing so, a byproduct mix of toxic sludge made up of petrochemicals, DDT and PCBs was produced.
For decades, that hazardous waste was disposed of in two ways. Some of the toxic pollution was dumped into storm drains and the sewer system, which was then pumped out to sea through outflow pipes, 2 miles offshore of the city of Rancho Palos Verdes.
The rest of the waste was disposed of in barrels which were loaded onto barges and floated 10 to 15 miles offshore to waste dumping sites off Catalina Island and then jettisoned into the ocean.
CBS NEWS
While it may seem hard to believe, at least part of the dumping was legally permitted. Back then, Valentine says, the prevailing thought was the ocean’s were so huge that they could never be compromised. The mantra was “dilution is the solution to pollution” — in hindsight a naïve notion.
But while the designated dumping site was very deep — in 3,000 feet of water — Valentine says shortcuts were taken, with barrels being dumped much closer to shore. And, in an effort to get the barrels to sink, there is evidence that many were slashed, allowing poison to leak, as they were dropped into the ocean.
For decades, the existence of these toxic barrels was surmised only by a very small group of scientists and regulators. That’s despite a startling report produced in the 1980s by a California Regional Water Quality Control Board scientist named Allan Chartrand, which asserted there may be as many as 500,000 barrels laced with DDT sitting on the ocean floor.
The report was largely ignored. But after nearly 30 years, Valentine dusted it off as he began his quest to see if these barrels existed.
The inshore toxic waste site
Unlike the deep water dumping sites, the shallower toxic site — called the Palos Verdes Shelf — 2 miles off the beaches of Rancho Palos Verdes was well-known and documented. In 1996, this zone was declared a Superfund clean-up site by the EPA, now comprising a 34-square-mile area. Montrose was sued and after a protracted legal battle ending in late 2000 the companies involved, including Montrose, settled for $140 million.
CBS NEWS
Over the past two decades, most of the money has been used by a program called the Montrose Settlements Restoration Program (MSRP) to try to restore the contaminated sites. Half of the funds were allocated to the EPA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to rehabilitate ecosystems impacted by the poison.
DDT gets into the food chain when it is consumed from the contaminated ocean bottom by tiny marine creatures, which are then eaten by small fish, which are then consumed by larger fish and marine mammals, like sea lions. Over time DDT builds up in the tissues and blubber of marine animals, a process called bioaccumulation. To this day, signs all along the Southern California coast warn fishermen not to eat certain fish. Despite this, you cannot get DDT contamination from swimming in the water.
Scientists say the contamination at this shallower water site is the most likely food chain route which leads to DDT building up in sea lion blubber. That’s because there is a much greater amount of marine life living in shallower water. But that does not rule out contamination from the much deeper site as well.
To try to remedy these pollution problems, NOAA has used its share of the funds to manage almost 20 restoration projects off the LA coast, like restoring kelp forest habitat, helping migratory seabirds and restoring 500 acres of critical coastal marsh habitat in Huntington Beach.
The last project of the effort — just completed — was the commissioning of an artificial reef just off the beaches of Rancho Palos Verdes. To accomplish this, NOAA hired a team of scientists from the Southern California Marine Science Institute and Vantuna Research Group at Occidental College to design and deploy the reef.
The reef building effort was led by Jonathan Williams, a marine biologist from Occidental College. The project involved strategically placing more than 70,000 tons of quarry rock on the ocean bottom just off the beach. Williams says that the reef was an immediate success, with thousands of fish flocking to the rocks.
NOAA FISHERIES
This reef site is much closer to shore than the contamination site, which is 2 miles from land. That’s by design. Williams says the idea is to construct new habitat for fish and kelp in uncontaminated areas to build up healthy populations of fish. This helps limit the amount of toxins, like DDT, which enters the food chain.
As predators at the top of the food chain, DDT in fish is also a danger to people. Williams says this is especially true of underserved communities who are mostly likely to subsistence fish, eating what they catch. In this way, NOAA’s project addresses environmental justice by attempting to make fish more safe to eat.
Two miles offshore, Williams says that after years of measuring high levels of DDT on the Palos Verdes Shelf, levels have started to drop precipitously, a sign that some of the DDT may finally be starting to break down.
In all, his time-limited work yielded visuals of 60 barrels. Besides bringing back video of the leaking barrels, his team was also able to collect samples from the ocean floor. One of them registered a contamination 40 times greater than the highest contamination at the Superfund site, indicating that the toxins down deep are still very concentrated.
But before his discovery in 2011, Valentine placed part of the blame for the lack of knowledge about the barrels on the lack of technology to find it. It’s only in the past couple of decades that the technology became available to make this deep water research feasible.
Coincidentally, on the very day CBS News went to visit Valentine in Southern California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography began a two-week mission to survey almost 50,000 feet of the deep ocean seafloor.
SCRIPPS
Employing a large research vessel called the Sally Ride, 31 scientists and crew members, and two high-tech autonomous robots they call Roombas, the team used sophisticated sonar to map the ocean bottom and assess how many barrels there are.
Scripps Researchers aboard the Research Vessel Sally Ride using the REMUS 600 and Bluefin automated underwater vehicles (AUVs) to survey the seafloor for discarded DDT barrels in March 2021.SCRIPPS
As of our last conversation with Eric Terrill, the team leader, the final number had still not been tallied. But even as early as a week into the research mission, Terrill described detecting tens of thousands of targets and said the number of barrels seemed “overwhelming.”
The two-week mission is now complete, but the team is still putting together the pieces. They expect to have a final report published at the end of April.
Sea lions in trouble
Located right near the Golden Gate Bridge, the mission of the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California is to rescue marine mammals in distress. Since 1975, the organization says they have rescued 24,000.
In December, the team published a 30-year study on sea lions, finding an alarming statistic: 25% of adult sea lions have cancer.
CBS News interviewed the lead veterinarian Dr. Cara Field. She called the number of sea lions with cancer both “extremely alarming” and “unprecedented in wildlife.” Last year the Marine Mammal Center had to euthanize 29 sea lions because of cancer.
NOAA FISHERIES
In the report, the research team pointed to a combination of herpesvirus and contaminants like DDT and PCBs as the cause of cancer. In all cases of cancer, sea lions had elevated levels of DDT and PCBs in their blubber. The theory goes that the contaminants weaken the body’s immune system, making the virus more effective.
Because sea lions travel up and down the California coast yearly, scientists believe they may pick up the contaminants when they are near their breeding site on the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California.
And while it seems logical that the sea lion contamination is coming from polluted sites in shallow water, scientists do not yet know how much of the DDT from barrels in deeper water may be entering the food chain. This, they say, will require more research.
While there are still many unanswered questions, one lesson from this story of DDT contamination is clear: When humans callously pollute the environment it can have consequences for generations to come. One current example is human-caused climate change. The question is, how much of a burden will our children and grandchildren have to bear as result of our choices?
Extreme drought across the Western U.S. has become as reliable as a summer afternoon thunderstorm in Florida. And news headlines about drought in the West can seem a bit like a broken record, with some scientists saying the region is on the precipice of permanent drought.
That’s because in 2000, the Western U.S. entered the beginning of what scientists call a megadrought — the second worst in 1,200 years — triggered by a combination of a natural dry cycle and human-caused climate change.
In the past 20 years, the two worst stretches of drought came in 2003 and 2013 — but what is happening right now appears to be the beginning stages of something even more severe. And as we head into the summer dry season, the stage is set for an escalation of extreme dry conditions, with widespread water restrictions expected and yet another dangerous fire season ahead.
With this in mind, there is little doubt that the drought in the West, especially the Southwest, this summer and fall will be the most intense in recent memory. The only real question: Will it last as long as the last extended period of drought from 2012 to 2017? Only time will tell.
Right now, the U.S. Drought Monitor places 60% of the Western states under severe, extreme or exceptional drought. The reason for the extensive drought is two-fold; long term drying fueled by human-caused climate change and, in the short term, a La Niña event in which cool Equatorial Pacific waters failed to fuel an ample fetch of moisture.
CBS NEWS
Consequently, this past winter’s wet season was not very wet at all. In fact, it just added insult to injury, with only 25 to 50% of normal rainfall falling across much of the Southwest and California. This followed one of the driest and hottest summers in modern times, with two historic heat waves, a summer monsoon cycle that simply did not even show up and the worst fire season in modern times.
(CNN)The efficacy of ChineseCovid-19vaccines is “not high” and authorities are weighing options to bolster protection — including mixing different shots, China’s top disease control official has said.”The protection rates of existing vaccines are not high,” Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told a conference in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Saturday.He listed two options to solve the problem: one is to increase the number of doses, or adjust the dosage or interval between shots; the other is to mix vaccines developed from different technologies.
Gao’s remarks are a rare public admission from the country’s top health official that the efficacy of China’scoronavirus vaccinesis not ideal — and improvements are needed to boost protection.
Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention…
Updated: 8:06 AM CDT Apr 11, 2021Infinite Scroll EnabledBy Ivana Kottasová, CNNPlay VideoSHOW TRANSCRIPT
TRACKING THE COVID-19 VACCINE
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Lyth Hishmeh kept feeling ill months after contracting coronavirus a year ago in March. He had chest pain and couldn’t concentrate. At 26 years old, the former regular runner was fatigued and breathless, struggling to function properly. Yet medical professionals kept telling him he simply could not still be ill.
Another Londoner, Monique Jackson, has lost count of the number of times her pain was described as “just anxiety.” The 32-year old illustrator was repeatedly told…
Right now, in the conservation movement, a lot of people are fixated on a single number: 30.
The US andmore than 50 other countrieshave pledged to conserve 30 percent of their land and water by 2030 as a means to help thwart the biodiversity crisis.
Biodiversity tends to increase with the area of land or water conserved, yet just 16 percent of global land is in protected areas today (in the US, it’s closer to 12 percent), according to theWorld Database on Protected Areas. Intact ecosystems also play a major role in mitigating climate change.
As conservationists have recognized the importance of…
Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention…
Updated: 8:06 AM CDT Apr 11, 2021Infinite Scroll Enabled/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69111991/30_draft.0.jpg)
